Sunday, October 23, 2011
How Aware Are You of Diversity?
This article has been one of the ones that I have liked the most so far. I am very interested, specifically in the situation with the statues. When I was first reading through it, the beginning I thought was some form of analogy, but then when it was not an analogy I was really shocked. What I was surprised about was that enough people approved the statue that the senior class chose as a gift that it was created into a statue on campus. It seems that there is so much evaluation of everything for racism and stereotypes you would not think this would go so far on a such a large, diverse campus. Campus life is usually more liberal and filled with activists so that is also surprising. Everything is scrutinized today. Take for example the Illinois Illini (very suiting for this weekends game). For year the Chief of the Illiniwek was the mascot and danced before their games began and was featured on Illinois gear. This mascot had been place for many years. Illinois was aware of how treating the situation properly was important. From my view and the view of many others, never was the mascot show in disrespectful light or derogatory ways. He was treated with respect and pride. The potential scrutiny of the Illiniwek was assumed and Illinois was forced to remove as the mascot and the chief danced no more. Stereotypes are a very touchy subject, and it is often hard to know when the line has been crossed.
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Hey Margot, I really liked your blog post, I didn't know the story of the Illiniwek, it was very interesting. However, what II sincerely liked the most from your blog post was the last sentence: "Stereotypes are a very touchy subject, and it is often hard to know when the line has been crossed." Because 'touchy' is the perfect way to describe cultural stereotypes, because you never know when you're messing with someone else's values, and I could barely think of a better way to describe it. By the way you are the second person who thinks of cultural respect as a drawn line, and I really like that, because it helps me picture in my mind how to behave with others, and how important is it to 'avoid crossing the line' when interacting with others. NICE POST! (engr 103)
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting post! I had no idea of the story behind the mascot. If you would have asked me, i would have said there was nothing wrong with the Chief doing the dance before the games. I guess thats why this is such a "touchy" issue today. Since we aren't the ethnic or racial group being affected, we don't necessarily understand the complexity of the problem. Sure the whole dance thing was done with nothing but good intentions, but it probably did offend some people.
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It is definitely is a touchy subject for sure. The story Illiniwek was definitely something that played into the stereotypes. It was a big ordeal for die-hard Illinois fans, because it was a tradition they had practiced for you. People could not understand that after so many years they were bringing up the problems so many years after the mascot had been put in place. Anyways, stereotypes are very hard to deal with, because you never know if you are going to cross a line. Even if it is not a stereotype, it can be a hard to make sure what you say may not offend anyone in anyway. Values and life experiences play very large roles in how someone’s life and can make certain subjects very hard for people. The line can definitely be a helpful visual in this situation. The closer you are to the line, the more dangerous it is. If you can sense a conversation going in the wrong direction the best thing is to move the conversation in the opposite direction. It is really hard, because you can never imagine what others have gone through. In my house, I have become very close to some of my sisters and some of them have gone through incredible things (engr103).
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